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Love, greed, jealousy. These are all emotions that a normal human being may experience, you can’t deny that, right? Emotions are like bullets in a gun, once fired, can cause disasters. This is all part of human nature, there is no way a person can hold on to their emotions forever. For example, your friend offended you, will you be able to keep it in and continue to be all friendly with her? Of course not. Maybe, you will befriend her again after confronting her, or maybe you guys won’t ever talk again. These are the possible results of your choices. Narratives or stories like William Shakespeare’s King Lear and Akira Kurosawa’s Ran both reflects the consequences of people’s choices. Their main function is to question different aspects of our world and warns us the capacity of humanity, and how it may lead to chaos.
King Lear by William Shakespeare was written in 1606 during the Elizabethan era. It was believed to be inspired by a lawsuit that occurred before the writing. The lawsuit was about Sir Brian Annesley’s eldest daughter who tried to declare her elderly father insane so that she could take control of his property. However, was lost against her younger sister, Cordell, who successfully defended her father. During the beginning of the 17th century, there was tension between the traditional feudalism and new capitalist ideas by the middle class. Shakespeare wrote this play to reflect the issues that were happening then, and what will possibly happen if the younger daughter, Cordell, failed to defend her father. In King Lear, there is a distinct line between the good and evil sides of human nature, with characters such as Cordelia, Kent and Edgar which represents kindness, and Regan, Goneril and Edmund who represents the evil side. Greed is the main cause of many problems that arise in King Lear. First of all, Lear wants to escape from the responsibilities, where he “unburdened crawl toward death”, but still wants to hold authority. This is the trigger to his downfall, alongside with his stubborn pride and anger which surpasses his judgement to see the reality. When he demanded for opulent flattery, Regan’s punning of “mettle” and the accumulation of synonyms, “deed”, “precious”, “dear”, “prize” which are related to wealth, in one way tries to appeal to Lear, but also revealing her greed. In juxtaposition to Regan and Goneril, Cordelia expresses her love to be only as much as a daughter should love her father. She is the representation of the pure side of humanity as she forgave her father even though he banished her. Edmund, the illegitimate son of Gloucester, adds on to the chaos. He plots on his legitimate brother Edgar, to gain his father’s favour and eventual inheritance. What aspect of human nature is this? Yes, greed again, and jealousy. Hence, the tragic story of King Lear reminds us that human nature is not always amiable, and every choice made might lead to disasters.
Now on to Ran by Akira Kurosawa, which is a film adaptation of King Lear. Ran was produced in 1985, forty years after the devastating nuclear warfare in Japan. The bombing of Hiroshima left a huge impact on the Japanese. It happened as a factor to end the ongoing war, which of course began due to the lust for land and power. Both King Lear and Ran began with the warlord making mistakes, and ended with them suffering the full consequences. Hidetora, an ageing king, handed over his responsibilities to his eldest son Taro, while wanting to keep his power. Saburo, his youngest son and the only son who cares for his father’s wellbeing, opposed his idea and was banished, just like Cordelia. Foreshadowing of the chaos was portrayed by Saburo snapping the three bundled arrows, indicating the break between the brothers, leading to their ultimate death. He knows that Taro cannot uphold the responsibilities as a leader to give his people peace. Instead, his thirst for power will result in war and death. The whole plot of the story revolves around the antagonists, Taro and Jiro, casting out their father and fighting against each other for power, creating chaos,which corresponds to the context of the nuclear warfare. Unlike Shakespeare, Kurosawa uses physical war to create conflict. Kurosawa’s use of vibrant colours in the movie depicts the different human qualities which causes destruction. Red is used to show the lustful and violent desires of men, and complementary colours are used to symbolise conflict. Characters who were not mindful of the spirituality and solicitude were doomed to face calamity. Just like Hidetora’s family, who were all killed due to Taro and Jiro’s greed. Ran, as an adaptation, successfully mirrors the idea of what Shakespeare wanted to portray. Kurosawa appropriated the storyline to fit the Japanese historical context without losing its meaning. He also created the characters where each represents a different aspect of human nature, just like King Lear.
Both King Lear and Ran, enlarges the complexity of human nature to question why, why do things happen? Why do wars break out? Shakespeare shows us the answer through his works, which is also mirrored by Kurosawa in his film. They portray each aspect of human nature through characters, and reveals the consequences of the choices made by those characters. The capacity of humanity is unpredictable, but Shakespeare and Kurosawa were able to warn us how decisions may lead to chaos. The universal theme of love, jealousy and family problems are all issues that are still relevant in today’s society. Therefore, a narrative’s main function not only questions our world during the time written, but also goes on to future generations.
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